Christmas, Honestly?
by butterfly.cell
Summary: A normal christmas day was never right until traditions were fulfilled. Torchwood intruding and annoying little sisters were just two of Ianto's and he really isn't in the mood for celebrating. This is in the OASF MPreg series, Jack/Ianto
1. Chapter 1

**Rating**: PG-13 to 15 (for this part)  
**Characters/Pairings**: Jack, Ianto, Griffin, Niamh, the Jones Family; Jack/Ianto  
**Spoilers**: None  
**Warnings**: M/M kissing; Mild violence; Surly!Ianto  
**Summary**: A normal christmas day was never right until traditions were fulfilled. Torchwood intruding and annoying little sisters were just two of Ianto's and he really isn't in the mood for celebrating.

*******Disclaimer**: I don't own the boys, they belong to GDL, JB and RTD... I do own the relatives and offspring though

* * *

**Christmas, Honestly?**

Part 1

Ianto's breath was coming short and fast as pain blossomed from the gashes down his chest, sending ripples of pain through him. He balled a fist and brought it crashing down on the side of the table he was still lying on.

"Hey, hey! Uncalled for, tea-boy." Owen scowled at him and handed him the industrial strength pain killers he'd been fetching.

Ianto knocked them back with the end of his coffee and glowered at the medic. It was Christmas day and he'd been attacked by a weevil in the very early hours. Owen ignored his bad mood and continued cleaning and dressing the newly stitched claw marks.

He grimaced slightly at the vertical gashes moving from Ianto's neck down his side to his hip. Whilst the young man _had_ suffered worse at the hands of the weevils, this was still on the unpleasant side.

"How're you feeling?" Jack asked carefully, walking down the steps and over to him, taking his hand as he perched next to him. Ianto said nothing and just glowered at him as well. Jack raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Don't even begin to think that you can stay at home."

Ianto growled slightly and scowled again. Finally, he flicked out his phone and dialled his sister's number. "Bryn?"

"_Ianto!"_ His sisters voice was a welcome sound and Ianto guessed that she'd already been up for several hours already – even though it was eight in the morning.

"There's been a complication." Ianto managed to grind out as his jaw clenched at another wave of pain.

"_What kind of 'complication'?"_ Her voice was sceptical, though he liked to think there was also an undercurrent of concern.

"A complication of the painful and partially debilitating kind." Ianto sighed heavily and closed his eyes as the spasm left his shoulder and chest.

"_Been having too much fun in the early hours?"_ This time, it was layered with innuendo, and he could almost see her wiggling her eyebrows.

"You could say that." Ianto couldn't help but smile, silently wishing that the cause of his annoyance had been what Bryn was referring to – it _was_ Christmas after all.

"_Well then, I'll blame Jack later."_ She said lightly. Ianto laughed bitterly and Jack stood up in front of him, pulling him a little closer. Ianto closed his eyes and rested his forehead against him.

"Sadly, it wasn't that kind of 'fun'." Ianto replied.

"_Oh… You're okay though, right?"_ Now was the turn for concern and confusion.

"I will be once the painkillers kick in." Ianto assured her, feeling Jack's arm move around his waist. He'd sensed Jack's upset over the weevil attack the moment he'd found him leaning against the alley wall. Torchwood had a horrible way on making it's mark at Christmas.

"_How bad is it?"_ Bryn whispered, both of them having heard loud footsteps on the floor above.

"I might be ruining Christmas the moment I step into the house." Ianto sighed, and even to Bryn he sounded dejected. Still, she laughed.

"_Oh well, they'll get over it! At least you'll be walking in."_ The tension had left her voice as she laughed again. Despite everything, Ianto managed to find some comfort in the sound.

"Everyone's still expecting me then?" He tried, resignation already creeping into his words. He'd tried to warn his parents not to get too excited about them visiting on Christmas, but they'd had none of it.

"_Oh yes!"_ She almost yelled, to the point that even Jack heard it. _She stills reminds me of him_, he thought with a smile.

"And there's no way I can bow out?" Ianto tried for the final time.

"_None."_ There was a grin of triumph on Bryn's face that was so large Ianto could see it through the phone line.

"Okay, see you later." He sighed, trying to make himself sound a little happier.

"_In a bit!"_ Bryn said happily before disconnecting the call.

Ianto snapped the phone closed and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose gently as he took several deep, slow breaths. The painkillers were kicking in, but were nowhere near enough at the moment. Jack squeezed his shoulder gently and Ianto leaned his forehead against his lover's stomach again, taking comfort from the feeling of Jack's fingers running across his tense shoulders.

Ianto flinched as Owen gave him a couple of shots – a tetanus booster and a low dose of morphine. There was a moment of tension in the young man before he sighed in bliss. Jack struggled to keep a straight face, having heard the sound on many occasions already. Owen glanced at him and screwed his face up. That was a mental image he really didn't need on Christmas day.

He began unrolling a bandage, and with Jack's help, Ianto's entire torso was strapped up to both hold the gauze over the gashes and to support the bruised side.

"Okay, you're all done." Owen said with a slight sigh, snapping his surgical gloves off and flinging them into the bin in the corner. "Nothing strenuous, keep them dry, change the bandage once a day, come back in ten days for a wound check. Got it?"

"Yes, sir." Ianto said a little sarcastically, saluting Owen with a sideways look.

"I would say avoid alcohol as well, but seeing as it's Christmas, I'll let you have a drink or two. Not too many please." Owen said with a warning. Ianto sighed, but nodded, swinging his legs off the table and allowing Jack to help him into a clean t-shirt.

He pulled himself to his feet and clutched his bruised side instinctively, his knees weakening a little. Jack caught him just in time and together, they made their way back up to the desk area.

Griffin quickly wriggled free of Tosh's arms and ran over to Ianto, stopping just in front of his parents as he noted the way Ianto was leaning on Jack. Griff looked up with concern and Ianto pushed away from Jack gently and bent down, pulling the little boy into a hug with him good side.

"It's all okay, don't worry." Griff stroked his neck gently and nodded, letting Jack take his hand and lead him back to where his things were.

"Thanks, Tosh." Ianto sighed as he got back to his feet and headed to the sofa. The woman hadn't needed to come in, but Jack had called her with an update and she'd arrived in time to help Jack with the kids whilst Ianto was being fixed up.

"It's not a problem." She hugged him gently and pecked him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, Ianto!"

He chuckled and smiled, looking up see Jack moving back towards him now wearing his coat. He took another deep breath and took Griffin's hand as Jack picked up the still drowsy little girl curled up on the sofa.

*

They made a stop at home to collect some presents and the day's supplies – as well as for them both to change into clean and 'normal' clothes. It made the young man smile to see that Jacks till insisted on changing into twenty first century clothes when they visited his relatives.

A couple of hours later and they were setting off.

Ianto was surprisingly quiet in the car, spending the journey with his eyes closed and his right hand still cradling his bruised and slashed left side. No matter what he wore, he couldn't cover up the ends of the gashes, as they extended up his neck an inch or so.

He felt Jack's hand squeeze his thigh gently and rolled his head to smile at him.

"Feeling any better?" He asked quietly.

"Well… I think Owen added in some sedative to my painkillers." He smiled and Jack chuckled. That had been his idea – to get Ianto safely to his parent's house with the minimum amount of strain on his already frazzled mind.

The rest of the journey passed in much the same way, Ianto looking back to check on Griffin – who was still acutely aware that he'd been injured – and Niamh – who was off in her own little world, as usual.

As they pulled up on the drive, Bryn and Ellen came rushing out of the house to help. Jack must've forewarned them that Ianto was almost out of commission, as they took both of the kids and left Jack and Ianto with presents they'd bought for the family.

They'd already decided that their presents for each other would be given on boxing-day, a private moment that no one would intrude on – no matter how unconsciously.

Jack let Ianto lead the way, noting how the young man's breathing was still a little shallow, how his posture was giving away the amount of pain he was in when he moved. He sighed and shifted the bags in his hands, taking Ianto's with his now free one.

Lydia appeared in the hallway and embraced Jack tightly before turning to look at Ianto.

"What's wrong?" She said with a frown, reaching out to touch the dressing on Ianto's neck with her fingertips. Ianto flinched away unconsciously and grimaced apologetically as she patted his arm instead, worry evident in her eyes.

"You don't really want to know." Ianto said wryly, letting her guide them into the front room, where the fire was built up and burning warmly.

He smiled in earnest as he saw the decorations around the room – the large, full Christmas tree covered in the seemingly timeless decorations from his childhood, the strings of Christmas cards hung along the tops of the walls and the various tea-light decorations on the mantelpiece.

Mercifully, the sofa had been left open for them, and Jack sat down where Ianto could lean on him and most likely fall asleep later on in the day.

"How's your day been so far then, son?" Eli asked with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. Ianto looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Eventful, to say the least." He managed to reply, tugging his hoody up a bit to cover top of the dressing that was sticking out of his t-shirt collar. He glanced over at his mother, who was sitting with pursed lips and a disapproving frown. "Mam, I'm fine, honestly."

"Griffin? I have something for you that was dropped off here yesterday." Eli piped up, dispelling the tension between mother and son for the time being. The little boy looked around, puzzled and the old man handed him a medium sized rectangle.

He carefully peeled back the paper in the way he'd so obviously inherited off Ianto – something which made Jack groan and roll his eyes when his lover did it – and yelled in delight when he revealed the storybook within.

Ianto watched with a smile as the little boy clambered onto Eli's lap and hugged him.

Thus began the flow of presents, carried out mainly by Bryn and Ellen who had taken up their usual seats by the tree.

At several points during the proceedings, Jack had been forced to nudge Ianto towards the awake end of the consciousness scale. The sedatives were obviously a little strong, not to mention he'd been awake since six the previous morning.

Ianto, on the other hand, was more than content to watch everyone enjoying themselves – particularly Niamh and Griffin. With Jack's arms around him, it was all too easy to close his eyes and drift off.

When he was hit in the face by a rather soft and squishy package, he jerked awake and fumbled to catch the package before it could fall. Once the sudden commotion was over, he glared over the top of the present at his sisters, now laughing unashamedly.

"Does 'letting Ianto sleep' not classify as a good present then?" He asked with a slight scowl. That was quickly remedied by Jack pressing a little harder than necessary on a particularly tender bruise on his hip. Ianto yelped and looked apologetic before opening the present carefully.

The first layer peeled back to reveal another layer beneath, in a different colour. Realisation hit him sluggishly as he remembered all those Christmas' through his childhood and teens.

"Treasure hunt time?" He looked up with a crooked smile at his mother, who grinned knowingly. Ianto sighed and shook his head a little as he ripped through to the last layer, finding a new, checkered shirt within the paper with a note.

_**Now for the fun part!**_

It was in Bryn's stylish yet haphazard writing and he rolled his eyes, handing Jack the shirt and taking the note, flipping it over to reveal the first clue.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Someone quite rightly pointed out that this is a christmas fic in the middle of june and I completely forgot to explain why! Basically, I never got round to posting it when I posted 'Christmas Holidays?' back in January and I really thought I had! I got a PM earlier in the week asking whether it had gone missing when I did a complete -headdesk- and decided to post it!

* * *

**Part 2**

_**You visit me eight times a day at regular times…**_

Ianto swallowed a bark of laughter and quickly showed Jack the note. His mind obviously flicked to the same conclusion, 'More than eight times if I have my way…' Jack murmured into his ear.

"Right then, this'll be fun." Ianto said, hauling himself to his feet. He stumbled slightly and Bryn darted forwards to catch him under the arm silently. Together, with Ianto leading the way, they headed into the kitchen, straight for the coffee machine.

They were soon joined by the rest of the clan, Jack and Ellen with the youngest members.

"Well, if you're making a cup…" Jack said with a grin. Ianto rolled his eyes and plucked the silver card from inside the French press on the work surface.

"'I'm not your best friend'. Ambiguous much?" Ianto glanced at his makeshift crutch and she grinned, gesturing him to keep going. Ianto stayed still and thought for a moment. With a slight growl of annoyance, he began to move forwards, heading up the stairs and into his room, lifting up his alarm clock to find a gold card this time.

Bryn made a noise of disapproval and Ianto's lips curled in a smile. She obviously hadn't expected him to get it so quickly. He flipped the card open and found the next note.

_**On Easter, look to the orient…**_

Ianto sat down on the bed and cradled his side slightly as he thought it through, frowning slightly. He was completely aware of Bryn watching him with a slightly evil smile on her face. _Easter, orient?_ Ianto thought in mild confusion. He shook his head and threw off the last remnants of the sedative from six hours earlier and concentrated on the clue.

_Easter… third day? Orient? Chinese, middle, asia, east… 'On the third day, look to the east'!_ Ianto grinned.

"Tad?" Ianto called, leaning back a little and wincing as his wounds stretched. Eli appeared at the door and Ianto held the card up. "Did Mam get you those Lord of the Rings DVDs you were asking for?"

He took slightly too long to answer and Ianto was up on his feet and down the hall before Bryn caught up with him, insisting on steadying him. Ianto headed back through to the front room and fell to his knees by the DVD box and dug through it until he pulled out his father's extended edition of the Two Towers.

He shook the boxing free from the sleeve and picked up the card, this time silver again.

_**I was your teenage fantasy… **_

Ianto frowned and looked up at Bryn in complete confusion. Jack took the card, read it and promptly started to laugh, only letting it die to a chuckle when Ianto scowled at him. He turned his attention back to Bryn and the young woman shrugged.

Ianto sat back and ran down his list of teenage dreams. He was fairly sure he'd thrown out his stash of playboy magazines when he'd moved to London, and all his pin ups had gone with them. No, he was sure they were gone as he vividly remembered the bonfire he'd had in the garden.

He wasn't sure about this one at all, but instead of sitting where his cuts were rubbing slightly, Jack pulled him to his feet.

"Teenage fantasy?" Jack whispered with a grin. "I mean, I know I'm good, but before you even met me?"

"Actually, it was Madonna at the time." Ianto said pleasantly, brushing off Jack's words with ease. He looked up to see Jack's nose wrinkled.

"I thought you had better taste." Jack replied, a little hurt. Ianto leaned in and kissed him gently.

"I grew up." Ianto winked and pointed back out of the room. "Garage please."

"Your teenage fantasy was the garage?" Jack asked, a little dubious as he wrapped his arm around Ianto's waist carefully. Ianto rolled his eyes and proceeded to guide them past the others to the garage.

He couldn't help but smile when he saw his father's vintage Ford Mustang still sitting in pride of place. He pushed away from Jack and headed towards the car, finding the door unlocked and climbing in. He heard a low whistle from his lover as Jack approached.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Ianto asked, his voice slightly reverent as he ran his hands over the steering wheel.

"I haven't seen one of these for a long, long time." Jack said, impressed. Ianto grinned and reached over to open the glove compartment. "Would it be wrong for me to jump you right now?"

"In the 'tang? Yes, yes it would." Jack pouted slightly and Ianto winked, withdrawing his hand and a gold card. "'Back to the beginning'."

Ianto sighed and let Jack help him out of the car. Jack silently noted that the pain meds must be wearing off, for the muscles in Ianto's face were starting to set in the characteristic way they had when he was trying to cover up.

*

Five clues later and Ianto's breath was starting to get shallow, each intake of oxygen and expansion of his chest sending stabs of pain along his chest. Jack was increasingly worried, but Ianto refused to take anything until he'd found his present and could slip away from his relatives.

He found the final note, on shiny green card, tucked in the power cable of the vacuum cleaner. It simply said: **Turn around.**

Ianto frowned for a moment, braced against the doorway to the under stairs cupboard. After a moment, he turned his head to look over his shoulder and saw Jack, standing next to the dresser with and small parcel sitting neatly on it. Jack was leaning nonchalantly against the wall and watching Ianto with a smile.

Ianto looked up and found Ellen, Bryn, Griffin and Niamh grinning at him over the railing, his parents in the doorway to the dining room, opposite Jack.

"Before you say anything, this wasn't my idea." Jack grinned as Ianto approached him cautiously. He'd known that Jack and Eli had become good friends, sharing a surprising amount in common and it was obvious that with Bryn's help, the captain had been fully integrated into the Jones household.

Ianto blinked and took the box, opening the sealed ends carefully and shaking the contents from the wrapping paper.

The box in his hand felt reasonably heavy as he weighed it carefully. Nothing of the contents was given about by the exterior, so Ianto prized the lid up to find a fob watch, worn and a little tarnished with age.

Ianto swallowed hard and turned the watch over, examining the front before clicking it open and looking at the interior. He looked at the engraving on the inside, reading '_Gruffydd Delwyn Jones'_ in expert calligraphy.

"Grandtad's watch…" Ianto whispered, staring at the timepiece in shock.

"I found it at the shop a couple of months back." Eli spoke up from across the hall and Ianto looked up with a weak smile. "I figured that you were the only one of us who'd get any use out of it."

Ianto laughed gently and closed his fingers around the watch, grinning at his parents before putting the watch back in the box and pocketing it. He felt Jack's arm come around his waist again and thanked whatever deity there was that Jack had noticed him struggling with his stature.

Bryn must've noticed as well, for she herded everyone back into the front room to finish off with the presents.

Once everyone was safely chattering away again, Ianto let out a groan, gripping Jack tightly as he closed his eyes against the pain now omnipresent across his torso.

"What do you need?" Jack asked quietly.

"Not Owen's stuff, I don't want any more sedative. Mam would kill me if I fell asleep in her Christmas lunch." He attempted the joke, but grimaced as he moved his left arm a little.

"That's okay, I grabbed some normal stuff as well." Jack smiled and reached into his pocket to revealed the second bottle of pills. If Ianto hadn't wanted the drugs so badly, he would've punched Jack for making him take the sedative earlier.

Together, they made their way through to the kitchen and Jack gently held him whilst he grabbed a glass of water with his spare one. Ianto took it as Jack shook out a couple of the pills and held them out for him. In one smooth, practised move, Ianto knocked them back with the water in his hand and closed his eyes for a moment.

When he opened them, he saw Jack watching him with a sadness in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Ianto whispered.

"Watching you take pills like that… It's like second nature to you now." He stroked Ianto's cheek gently, tracing his fingers across his jaw line, resting gently on his lips. The intensity in his gaze almost had Ianto's knees turning to jelly. Even now, after so long, he was still capable of doing that.

The thought gave him some hope.

Still, burning deep in Jack's eyes was a look of regret and utter loss. He knew that look – Jack was already thinking of the time when Ianto would no longer be there. He was already thinking of the first Christmas he'd have to spend on his own.

Ianto leaned forwards and captured his lips in an intense, fiery kiss. He brought his hands to the back of his lover's necks and felt Jack respond against his lips, pulling him tighter against him as their tongues began the never ending battle they'd been fighting for almost a decade now.

Ianto felt something change in Jack's demeanour – the desperation and loneliness subtly changing to lust and want. Whilst Ianto was in much the same predicament, he didn't fancy solving the dilemma in his mother's kitchen. He pulled back and gasped in a deep breath. Somehow, he'd forgotten to breathe slightly.

Jack sighed and ran his nose across Ianto's jaw line, breathing slowly before looking up at him again, the glint that was just Jack in his eyes once more.

"Lets not give Bryn any more reason to speculate." He said with a grin, helping Ianto back through to the living room.

*

Christmas dinner, as usual was magnificent. Over that past couple of years that Jack had been invited to the household, he'd already discovered that Christmas dinner was an all out affair for Lydia Jones.

It seemed that she was determined to enjoy every last second she had with her family, and Jack didn't blame her. She took everything in her stride and provided enough food to feed everyone for several days. That included doing roast turkey and roast chicken – Bryn and Ianto refused to eat the larger bird for some reason.

Full of roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and turkey, Jack spent the rest of the afternoon reading to Griffin and Niamh. AT some point, Ianto had disappeared upstairs, on his sister's orders, to get some rest. Apparently, the lack of sleep had caught up with him.

It was almost five when he stumbled his way back to his family.

"God, I'm starving." He moaned as he walked into the kitchen, where his mother and Ellen were making tea and coffee for everyone. At least, they were making tea for everyone – Ianto almost yelled at them when they made a move to make coffee.

"You only ate a couple of hours ago." Lydia said with an affectionate sigh. Ianto just shrugged and moved over to the work surface covered in the Tupperwares of leftovers.

"Oh, Ianto! That's disgusting." Ellen wrinkled her nose as she realised what he was doing.

Every year on Christmas evening, Ianto made himself a sandwich.

"All the more for me then!" He replied with a grin over his shoulder, before turning his attention back to piling the chicken, stuffing and torn up Yorkshire pudding to a slice of bread. Ellen watched with a strange fascination, as she did every year, as he spooned a layer of gravy over the top and added the final piece of bread.

He sliced it in half and put it on a plate before leaving his sister alone with her mutterings of 'typical' and 'gross' and 'brothers'. He felt the eye roll and grinned as he dropped down on the sofa next to the others.

"Ianto, that's gross." Jack said without even looking up from the book he was reading.

"Like you can talk. What was it? Left over Chinese in a wrap?" Ianto said pointedly, watching the smile flicker on Jack's face.

"Okay, okay. Fair enough." He carried on reading the storybook to Griffin – for Niamh had already fallen asleep – as Ianto ate his sandwich, making surprisingly little mess.

The phone rang in the background and Ianto heard a clatter as Bryn charged through the house to grab the phone from the hall before her mother reached it. Ianto peered over his shoulder and frowned slightly at the flush on his sister's face.

"Hello?" She asked, a little breathless from the running, ignoring her mother's expression of disapproval. "Marcus!"

She squealed in delight and laughed, disappearing up the stairs as she began to chatter happily. Ianto took a moment to consider the situation again, but Jack stopped him in his tracks.

"You already gave her your blessing." Jack said with a slight warning. Ianto pouted in mock annoyance and Jack smiled, helping Griffin climb across the sofa to settle carefully against Ianto.

"Still… I'll feel better once I get a chance to meet him." Ianto sighed slightly and wrapped his good arm around the little boy in his lap.

* * *

**A/N 2**: There _IS_ a third chapter to this little fic, but it's a smut chapter and would knock the rating up to an M for the story if I posted it here. As ever, it's not integral to the actual story, so I decided not to include it over here. However, should you want to readit is -hinthint- you can access it here:

http :// butterflycell. livejournal. com/ 44698. html - **FRAO/NSFW**

((remove the spaces, naturally, when you plug it into your address bar)) - You have to be over 18 to access it, I think, so there's the warning for you (if you're a visitor to LJ, it should let you 'confirm that you're 18' and into the post!)

Finally, thanks for reading!! I hope you've enjoyed it :) xx.


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